The Story Of Guinness® Foreign Extra Stout

Fruit and caramel flavours begin, smoky notes and a vibrant bitterness follow. Where extra hops and a stronger alcohol percentage were once used to preserve the beer, allowing it to survive and thrive during long sea voyages, now they yield its bold taste and unique flavour profile.

“Guinness® Foreign Extra Stout is a beer born of a thirst for adventure”

Guinness® Foreign Extra Stout is a beer born of a thirst for adventure, tracing its origins back to a recipe for our West India Porter, first set out by Arthur Guinness II in 1801. In the early 1800s, while other breweries were content to stay close to home, we struck out into unchartered territories, braving the perils of sea travel to export our famous black beer across the globe. Brewed with more hops to preserve the beer in the ships’ holds during voyages of four-to-five weeks in tropical climes, the recipe yielded a powerful drink with a complex, fruity bittersweet flavour.

While our proudest invention to date arrived to be embraced by rest of the world, back in the brewery the team remained focused on the journey ahead. What was then known as West India Porter became the Foreign Extra Stout enjoyed today. But as the body evolved, its soul remained the same. It's where tradition meets innovation. And we're proud to transport that across continents.

Did you know?

Order a ‘Black Dog’ in Malaysia and you’ll be handed a bottle of our Foreign Extra Stout. This is because the first export bottlers of Guinness added their own symbols to the labelling to distinguish their bottles and exclusive territories. An animal known as a ‘chop’ is one such symbol. There are four designs: the bulldog head, wolf head, dog head and cat.